Pedigree Query

Why was Festival of Light gelded?

Did Seattle Slew pull a War Emblem, in his first season?

Did Dynaformer, bite a finger off of a visitor?

How’s Monarchos temperament? Did a little kid run under him, or him I thinking of the wrong horse?

Looking for info(i.e conformation, temperament, how tall, and stud fee) on Pistols And Roses.

Festival of Light was gelded because he attacked some groom or whatever. If they really believed in the horse; they could have instead waited for his first foals to run with an eye to selling him to another Farm less sentimental about the help if they ran good.

Seattle Slew didn't cover the first bunch of mares offered, and everyone involved was worried. But then they came up with some trick and it wasn't really like War Emblem in intensity.

I think Pistols and Roses is standing for 2,500 in Florida; though that might be a soft figure...

-llbean

The story I heard was SS would cover a mare if a foal was nearby.

oh great....he was a pedophile

That was the running joke. You might email the farm and ask if there is any validity to the story.

llbean wrote:Festival of Light was gelded because he attacked some groom or whatever. If they really believed in the horse; they could have instead waited for his first foals to run with an eye to selling him to another Farm less sentimental about the help if they ran good.

"Sentimental" seems rather an odd term for a farm's acting to deal with an animal that seriously threatened a human life, as though they were somehow being silly because it was just a groom instead of someone rich and important that the horse went for -- surely you weren't implying that. If the horse was truly that savage for reasons other than bad handling, it shouldn't be passing on the genes for such an extreme temperament IMO.

I can understand Gelding the horse because of the safety issue if meaningful precations were taken before the attack (if meaningful precautions were not taken, then reports that the attack was part of a pattern of truely savage behaivor are significantly less credible to me).

I also understand your point that if the horse was a major danger to Human Life that would be a very serious issue; but It's still rather surprising to me that they gelded a Graded Stakes Winner with a pedigree like that given Festival of Light could very well turn out to be a very good sire and now the horse has no monetary value even if he's the next Malibu Moon.

I should add that a savage temperment didn't stop Galopin from being one of the Greatest Stallions in the History of the Breed.

-llbean

A savage temper didn't keep Boston from being a great sire either, and one can only imagine how different the Thoroughbred would be without Lexington, who I seem to remember reading had more than a touch of his sire's nature. But is a potentially good sire worth a human life -- ANY human life? If the horse could have been trained to be more manageable and remained a stud, that's one thing, but apparently the farm felt this wasn't possible. Besides, in these lawsuit-happy days, allowing someone to get maimed or killed by a horse already known to be vicious could about get a farm put out of business; that clause about equine activities being inherently dangerous only goes so far as legal protection.

llbean wrote:Seattle Slew didn't cover the first bunch of mares offered, and everyone involved was worried. But then they came up with some trick and it wasn't really like War Emblem in intensity.
-llbean

I heard the trick (or one of them) that they came up w/ for Slew was never send him one or more gray mares right after another b/c if they did he'd lose interest in all mares except the grays.

Who knows? Maybe one or more of the foals produced from those 87 matings of Festival of Light will be integral to the pedigrees of future generations . Maybe it will be Music Fest, my yearling filly, who will be the future blue hen? It only takes one foal produced by a stallion to continue the blood lines. In Mahubah's American Classic Pedigrees, occasionally you'll find a horse that provided the conduit to future generations' stars, even though the remainder of the family was nondescript.

llbean wrote:I can understand Gelding the horse because of the safety issue if meaningful precations were taken before the attack (if meaningful precautions were not taken, then reports that the attack was part of a pattern of truely savage behaivor are significantly less credible to me). I should add that a savage temperment didn't stop Galopin from being one of the Greatest Stallions in the History of the Breed.

It wasn't like the horse was in the hands of novices; he was at Valor Farm in Texas, and Festival of Light was owned, I believe, by Godolphin. Valor doesn't talk of the incident, but to warrant "gelding and giving him away" (as the story is told) the horse must have been far more savange and intractable than we can imagine.

Slew was initially a pedophile, however it is not unusual for first year stallions to be a bit reluctant to commit themselves to something they have been disciplined against.

Dynaformer did take a finger off a groom, I am not sure about a visitor.

Every stallion will bite....and they are much quicker than most people realize!

Chilito may have been one of the most dangerous horses of recent times. Unfortunate as he is a son of Strawberry Road and therefore could have been a significant stallion. Was gelded after 1 year at stud.

They can be very dangerous, but I believe very few horses that go to stud are later gelded without sufficient reason. And many would say we have too many horse going to stud in the first place (i.e. every son of Storm Cat).

I did not witness the horse (F of L). But a friend said he would lunge savagely at full run if anyone came within twenty feet of his paddock. Very scary indeed! I can't imagine the fear and stress that would go with a job like caring for and handling him on a daily basis, and in the fitness of breeding season at that!! He was also hard on the mares, as my mare fell during the process, needed veterinary care for the laceration over her knee. The savaging of the groom required multiple operations for resolution. Godolphin and Valor didn't want the liability, and in good conscience, couldn't keep him intact. It was either geld him or euthanize him. I can't imagine he's much better as a gelding, but at least he doesn't create as much risk to mares and handlers.

Any TB stallion is potentially a pretty volatile commodity, but I figured Festival of Light had to be way beyond the normal range to get himself gelded. Hope the babies he does have turn out to be worthwhile and more tractable than their daddy.

Any clue as to where that nasty disposition came from? I'd never heard that A.P. Indy was particularly nasty, but then I've never heard that he's any angel either.

Sounds like Seeking the Gold!!! The guys at Claiborne will tell you that he wants to hurt you and will whenever he gets a chance. As for Monarchos...he was a sweet heart when I saw him right after his first season. They, at the time, would let visitors pet him and they didn't offer to let anyone pet any off the others!